Snapshot

I have a couple of Emma funnies to share quickly. I will do an actual post soon, but I just had to throw these in because they have kept me smiling for the past few days.

Emma: Mom, are monster trucks real?
Me: Yes.
Emma: Have you seen one?
Me: I think so, at some point it seems I have seen one. (I don't know for sure, but that seems logical. I have a much worse memory since having kids that is for sure!)
Emma: I think I would like to get a monster truck.
Me: Why do you want a monster truck?
Emma: Because I think they are fascinating.

Yes, she said fascinating. I don't know many 5 year old girls who find monster trucks fascinating. And we aren't even fueling this fire because we never go to monster truck rallies, or frankly anywhere else that monster trucks might hang out.
My second Emma funny. Scene: the Swenson family is traveling in the car talking. I am not sure how the conversation started but we ended up talking about kings.
Emma: Are there really any kings?
Nate: Some countries have kings.
Emma: But we don't have a king, we have lawyers.
Nate and I were both at a loss for words. We finally composed ourselves to the point where we could explain things to her, and she is no longer under the impression lawyers run our country. We are going to let her live in that sweet bliss until she is old enough to realize the truth of the matter on her own.

This is a picture from the last dance recital Emma had. She has her big spring recital coming up on May 9. No, she does not usually wear make-up, just for recitals.

P.S. Congratulations on graduation Holly!!! I think you deserve to stand up with all the other doctoral degree people (I don't know what you call these particular people when its plural, grammar is not my thing). My sis-in-law is going to be a lawyer...You can rule the world!!! (at least according to Emma).

What a week!

The kids had spring break for the week of April 14-18 and I am still recovering. We didn't go anywhere exciting or anything, so I had to think of some fun things for everyone to do. I am so lucky to have my friend Audrey or I swear I would spend my life in my house doing nothing. Not that I am opposed to going out and doing things, but I am not good at coming up with stuff and getting it all set up. So here is the break down of the week, pictures included.
Actually our week started with celebrating Clara's Birthday. It is hard to know what to do for something like that. It is a hard day, but it also is something that brings some peace. So we took flowers, pinwheels, and cake to the cemetery. I have the absolutely sweetest friends. One friend wrote me a sweet note, one friend sent flowers, a couple of friends just gave me a hug and told me they were thinking about me. It is strange to think that other people care enough about me to think about Clara's Birthday. My Mom did something really neat and gave us a couple of children's books that teach good morals and values and tied it into Clara's birthday by saying if we try to do these things and live our lives more Christlike every day we will be able to live with Clara again. I thought that is a neat tradition to do. I also am going to take a little dress and blanket to the hospital for them to give to someone else who is in the same type of situation we were.
This is Jake and Emma looking at the books at the cemetery for Clara's Birthday.

Monday: THE ZOO!!!
What a great day. It was hot, but so much fun. A bunch of us and our kids went to the school. If my friends weren't all so fun 17 wild kids would make me crazy. It was great because my friend Rachel who I don't get to see nearly enough met us there with her kids. Emma and her daughter Katelyn were great friends, so it was fun to see that when they got together it was like not a day had passed. It made for a long, tiring, hot day but well worth our time.
Here is a picture of a bunch of the kids taking a break on the rock ledge.

Tuesday/Wednesday: Grandma and Grandpa McGuires
We spent a couple of days at my parents. My kids had a ball. My Dad has a Playstation 3, I know he is hilarious, so needless to say Jake was in video game heaven. Also, my sister Nat and her husband Jeff have moved in with my parents so we got to see them. We played, watched movies and saw Ju and Brack, and Bob, Erica, and Brody. It was great. We went to a little farm and saw some sheep, ducklings and chicks. It was a fun trip.
Jake petting one of the baby chicks.

Thursday: Jumpin' Jacks!
Did my kids love this place or what. No, I didn't take pictures. There was no way to keep up with them long enough to catch them on film. They ran and played so hard that they were absolutely sweating by the time I said it was time to go.

Friday: We went to the park and had lunch with some friends. I love doing things like this for the fact that the kids are entertained and I can actually sit and talk with my friends. We have to periodically stop talking and chase down a child who has snuck a cell phone or snacks or whatever, but overall it is such a great thing. I am so glad that our weather is getting good enough to go to the park more often.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did...

I just got some pictures that my sister Nat took on the cruise. I just had to laugh when I saw this picture. Some of you may think that there is some editing done, but I say to you 'nay'. This is my husband at his finest. THAT'S A KEEPER!!!

11 Years!

Being the worst blogger on earth I of course neglected blogging about my Anniversary. Its true, I have in fact been married 11 years. It is really strange because in some ways it doesn't seem like 11 years could have possibly passed since I married my sweetheart. At the same time I can hardly remember my world without him in it. I truly am married to such a wonderful man. We have been through a lot together, and I am so grateful for every day I have had with him. He helps me to strive to be a better person. He is such a great father and husband. He is so smart and kind. He is always looking for ways to help others. I am just so lucky to have such a wonderful man.
Now that I have blathered on about how wonderful Nate is I have to tell about our incredibly romantic anniversary. During family home evening on Monday nights we always review the calendar to see what we have going on in the coming week. At family home evening on March 31 we went over the calendar as usual. On Tuesday I called Nate at work and our conversation went something like this:

Me: "Nate when we went over the calendar did you realize we completely forgot to mention that it is our Anniversary on Thursday?"
Nate: "No, I hadn't noticed, but you are right it is our Anniversary on Thursday."
Me: "Well do you want to do something to celebrate?"
Nate: "We are going to dinner for Craig's (a friend of ours) Birthday on Friday, so I don't really want to go to dinner on Thursday too." (Nate would much rather eat dinner at home that I cook, I am not that great a cook, but he is homebody)
Me: "Yeah, I don't care if we go out either. Should we do the gifts thing?"
Nate: "I don't have anything I really need right now. Do you?"
Me: "I was going to get a magazine rack. We could pick out a magazine rack this weekend and say it was for our Anniversary."
Nate: "That sounds good."
Me: "This is kind of sad for an Anniversary. We aren't going out and we aren't really doing gifts. Have we been married so long that we've become boring?"
Nate: "No, I would like to call it comfortable. We are comfortable."
So, although we did nothing exciting Nate bought me some beautiful roses and we picked out a real humdinger of a magazine rack.
Regardless of how exciting, or not exciting, as the case may be our Anniversary gave me a chance to think about how happy I am I married Nate.

Snapshot

My friend Kari, aka "Disco Mom" does these entries she has titled snapshot. I think it is a really great idea, so here goes my first snapshot. Now, keep in mind I was a statistics major, not an English major so clever, interesting writing is not my forte. (and I don't know how to put a little accent over the e in forte).

The other day in the car...

Jake: When did you have Peter?

Me: I had him on May 14th.

Jake: No, I mean when was he BORN?

Me: Well, he was born on May 14th really.

Jake: Wow, thats awesome that you had him on his birthday.

Me: Yeah, I am pretty amazing.

And for everyone wondering if I explained to him how birthdays work, the answer is no. I just left him thinking his Mom was, in his own words, awesome.
Here is one of my favorite pictures of Jake from the cruise.